The hissing of summer swans

Posted on April 27, 2008 by threlkeld

Okay, it was a goose. But I couldn’t resist a Joni Mitchell-related pun.

Today was my first longish run since the April 6th race. Among the sights today were:

  • Dog Runner Man: A professional dog walker who runs with his charges. He’s usually got four dogs in tow. Last time, it was mid-sized mutts and little yappy jobs. Today it was the big guns, including three of my favorite breed: German Shepherds.
  • Badass Goose Dad: I know it’s spring because the geese couples are beginning to show up with their little fluffball chick children. Which means Dad Goose goes batshit if you get with 10 yards of the family. I was chased by a hissing goose a year or two back, and it’s an image seared into my brain. Today I gave them wide berth and even had to employ the “make yourself look really big” trick (arms akimbo) to psyche out the goose. One time we were in a car and a goose charged the car!
  • Mysterious Parking Lot Crowd: Every child in Crestwood was gathered in the Crestwood station parking lot this morning for some mysterious event. They all had sport uniforms on. From a distance, I thought I’d stumbled on another meeting of what Jonathan and I have referred to as The Idiots’ Club — a giant crowd of adults was gathered last weekend in the same general area, but totally blocking the entire path, milling around, not at all aware that anyone else might be using it. Today I thought the same thing: one of my favorite Claire Fisher lines from “Six Feet Under”: “News flash! Other people exist!”
  • Fast Runner Guy I Haven’t Seen Before. I saw a very fast, very fit guy running this morning. Harumph. And I thought I knew all the decent runners in the area by sight.

I’ve not taken the standard advice to do no hard running for at least 26 days after a marathon. I did a lot of recovery and “easy” (faster than recovery) running last week. This week I did a 4 mile tempo run at 7:05-7:15 per mile pace on Friday morning on the very high quality (if not totally distance accurate) Bronxville High School track (one of the many perks of living right up the road from incredibly rich people). This morning was a 14.7 miler, which I surprised myself by doing at 8:15 per mile pace, at a lowish heart rate no less. I’m not sure where all that speed is coming from, but I’ll take it.

Next weekend is my half marathon in New Jersey. If it goes well, I think I’ll make a habit of doing one a month after the marathon, since it keeps me working during recovery and provides some remedy for the post-marathon melancholy.

On the family front, the other shoe has dropped with regard to my grandmother. She’s back in hospice once again, by her own choice. I wish she’d fight on, but maybe when I reach 93, and time and illness have stolen some of my most treasured faculties, I’ll also decide to throw in the towel on life. It’s a hard, hard thing to say goodbye. But love was all around when I was out there two weeks ago, as was the black humor that seems to run in both sides of the family (which would explain why my sister and I have it in spades).

I’m still on the hook for writing her obituary. But I can’t quite bring myself to tackle that one yet.

Some random media notes:

I’ve rented a string of dreadful movies lately. Werner Herzog’s “Rescue Dawn” was a welcome break from that last night. It’s a classic hero’s journey storyline. Well-written and I’ll watch about anything Christian Bale’s in. Unfortunately, the movie should have ended about 20 minutes earlier than it did, but other than that it was a good flick.

I’m also really enjoying Lionel Shriver’s latest novel, “The Post-Birthday World“. It’s a “Sliding Doors”-type of structure, with alternate chapters portraying how the main character’s life plays out under two scenarios: one in which she kisses a man, the other in which she doesn’t. Her work can be uneven — I thought “Game Control” fell apart as a story about halfway through, losing all momentum, for example or, in the case of “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” a good start ended up careening into histrionic melodrama. But she is a very skilled writer and she has a wonderful eye for absurd situations and the comedic potential presented by the tensions between siblings and their parents.

Filed under: everyday life, movies, reading, training, westchester | 3 Comments »

Training week in review: 17 of 18

Posted on April 1, 2008 by threlkeld

This week’s training theme:

After you’ve trusted your training, next trust your taper.

My penultimate week of training went better than the week before it. My leg was feeling much better — and I received the equivalent of a papal dispensation in terms of running the race despite a minor problem.

In the true spirit of “don’t do anything new before the race” I’ve decided not to go to physical therapy until after the marathon. It’s probably paranoid of me to think this, but I don’t want someone massaging my leg only to end up with some new problem as a result. It’s Tuesday evening and it really does feel better, about an 0.5 on the 1-10 pain scale.

My mileage was only slightly less than the previous week (owing to the fact that that week’s mileage was knocked right down by virtue of having taken two full days off to heal up The Leg). Recovery pace accounted for 60% of the mileage, with the rest an easy run with 3 miles at marathon pace and a 13 mile “long” (Long? That’s not long) run on Sunday.

I spent Sunday morning in Fairfield, CT, milling about the Scandinavian Club (my people!) while Jonathan ran his little heart out over 18+ miles. Side note: He took first in his age group again, and outkicked two young West Point Military Academy whippersnappers at the finish.

Since I had about two hours to kill, I pitched in with preparing the post-race food setup, went out to cheer the runners on, and then had a lovely conversation with another race spouse, a fellow runner whose husband was doing the race as a training run. We see them both on the Bronx River Pathway and sometimes at races, so it was nice to get to know at least one of them a little better.

It’s been truly bizarre to just run once per day (the exception being Wednesday). And it’s the first time in months that my legs have not felt tired on a run. I have a spring in my step and I’m having to hold myself back from running faster.

The tapering is beginning to drive me a little crazy, though. I’ve picked my race outfit, selected my gel flavors, devised my pacing strategy, and have my pre-race plan all laid out. Aside from obsessively checking the weather reports for Sunday, there’s nothing left for me to do. Except wait. And wait. And wait. Fortunately, work has been busy, so my mind is off of the race much of the time. But when it’s on the race, it will not stop. And I’ve begun having racing dreams too, which has been interesting.

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 3.9 miles recovery pace
  • Tuesday: 5.5 miles recovery pace
  • Wednesday: 7 miles recovery pace (AM); 4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Thursday: 7.2 miles easy pace with 3 miles at marathon pace
  • Friday: 5.2 miles recovery pace
  • Saturday: 5.1 miles recovery pace
  • Sunday: 13 mile long run (steady pace) — easy, easy, easy pace

Total mileage: 50.9 miles

Paces this week:

  • Recovery: 9:25 – 10:50
  • Long: 9:08-9:26
  • Marathon: 7:44

This week’s quote:

“Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.“

— Barbara Johnson

Coming up in training week eighteen: 26 miles, with close to 80% at recovery pace. One marathon “rehearsal run” on Wednesday. Then, on Sunday morning, we’ll see how far all this has gotten me.

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Training week in review: 16 of 18

Posted on March 23, 2008 by threlkeld

This week’s training theme:

My achilles tendon is my achilles’ heel.

I have never been very good at flirting. But I spent this week flirting with injury. Specifically, my right achilles tendon continued its campaign of complaint. I had to skip a day of running last week and darned if it wasn’t acting up again this week.

I haven’t spent 10 months training just to get injured three weeks before my Big Race. So I took Tuesday AND Wednesday off, then did very short, very slow recovery runs inside on the treadmill, with icing four times a day and wearing a compression wrap. I also attempted some stationary biking, but 15 minutes into my ride the power went so that was right out.

I think it’s better. Whereas on Tuesday I couldn’t walk up or down stairs (never mind running) without limping and whimpering, the problem was reduced to a minor ache by later in the week. I upped the mileage on Friday and Saturday, then took the leg out for a full test drive this morning on a 17 miler. Still felt an annoying twinge, but it went away by mile 10.

While on the treadmill that first day back, my feet just felt really stiff. I don’t know what possessed me, but I tried taking my shoes off and running in my socks for a couple of miles. That felt quite a bit better. I will probably try this more often when my feet are feeling tight.

Anyway, I’ve got two weeks to heal this thing up and I think that will happen. It’s no worse than aches I’ve had at other times — I’m just more paranoid than usual.

With the missed days, my planned mileage of 75 was brought down to just under 52. But I figure that at this point the training’s done, so I’m more concerned with reaching the starting line with no issues, even if that means dropping some mileage to get there. I will still do either a speed interval or tempo session this week to keep things sharp, but otherwise it’s all easy or recovery running coming up.

Still bloody freezing — 25 with the windchill this morning. I hope it warms up soon. But not too much.

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 6.2 mile limpfest
  • Tuesday: off
  • Wednesday: off
  • Thursday: 3 miles alternating running and walking (AM); 3 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Friday: 3.5 miles recovery pace (AM); 5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Saturday: 6 miles recovery pace (AM); 7.2 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Sunday: 17 mile long run (steady pace) — nothing fancy

Total mileage: 51.6 miles

Paces this week:

  • Recovery: 9:40 – 12:50
  • Long: 8:46 – 9:37

This week’s quote:

“Start slow and taper off.“

— Harry S. Truman

Coming up in training week seventeen: Tapering continues. I attempt some faster running, but will bag it if the leg starts acting up again. I also get to play Race Spouse next Sunday when Jonathan runs the 30K Boston Blowout in Fairfield, CT. Once we’re home and he’s settled in with pancakes and beer, I’ll go out for a little 13 miler.

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Training week in review: 15 of 18

Posted on March 16, 2008 by threlkeld

This week’s training theme:

Food is fuel. Don’t put cheap gas in the tank.

This week I learned a very important lesson about the importance of eating properly. I’ve been experimenting with “carbohydrate cutback” days — lowering carb intake on some days and loading on others. The theory being (at least among bodybuilders who use carb cycling during their “cutting” phase) that if you cycle your carb intake it keeps your metabolism guessing. And if you do it right, you lose more fat than if your diet was structured around a static daily distribution of carbs, fat and protein.

Great theory. One which I’ve applied in the past few weeks. If the new prominence of my leg muscles and veins in my hands and arms are anything to go by, I have lost some fat since trying this method. But you need to be careful during high intensity training, because — as every runner knows — carbs are our friends.

The long and short of it is that I pushed the low carb envelope just a little too far this week and paid for it. I’ve never “hit the wall” in a race, but I do now know what it feels like, having hit the wall on Saturday morning. I ran 19 miles on Thursday, and obviously didn’t replace enough of the lost carbs. Then, on Friday, I did an eight mile easy run and also did not eat enough carbs.

The chickens came home to roost yesterday morning when I attempted a six mile recovery run. I didn’t feel well, and in fact was craving sugar. So I ate a PowerBar before heading out, but that was not enough to make up for two days of deprivation. I was slogging along at a 10:30 pace and thinking, “Wow, I feel like I’m working really hard just to run this slow.” I checked my heart rate and it was elevated to 76%! I normally can run 10:30 at around 62% max heart rate, so something was obviously very wrong.

I had absolutely no energy. It’s such a strange feeling, to actually feel as though you couldn’t run another step. Since I also felt foggy in the head, I turned around at 1.25 miles and walked home and right into the kitchen for a large plate of carbohydrates. My last major long training run was scheduled for the next day (this morning), and there was no way I wanted to feel like crap due to bad nutrition. The only thing I could do — despite the extreme sacrifice — was to consume as much bread, rice, pasta and beer as I possibly could. For my training, of course.

I was also in a slightly injured state all week, as the irritated right achilles tendon continued. It was bad enough to skip running altogether on Tuesday. It was actually pretty funny. I put on my little running getup, walked down to the bikepath and took two running steps in a pronounced limp. Turn around. Go back up the hill. Take off the running getup. Take the ibuprofen and get out the ice pack. *sigh*

Still, it’s only the second or third time in all these weeks of training that I’ve needed to take time off, and it was the smart thing to do.

These changes in plans conspired to bring my mileage down from the planned 91 miles to 73ish. C’est la vie. This training business has been a grand experiment on my body and mind. It’s a great program, but I recognize that I need more than a day after a hard race and, in weeks where I have lots of high intensity work, I may need to swap a recovery run day with a day of complete rest. It’s a lot better than limping.

Another notable aspect to the week was my third speed session, which went very well and resulted in yet more learning. This time around, rather than running a six mile warmup before hitting the track, I just ran straight to the track (less than two miles). I felt much fresher than last time, so that’s what I’ll do from now on. I think even six very easy miles can take the wind out of your sails to some extent. I did 1200m intervals at a 6:45 pace and darned if I didn’t hit all my splits again. I thought I wouldn’t like speedwork, but I’m beginning to like it. Probably because it’s so prescribed and it’s easy (and quick) to evaluate whether or not it’s going well on a given day.

Finally, this morning was my last big, serious, long training run before the race in three weeks. I’d originally scheduled to do it in Central Park, but the weather was iffy. So I lay around all morning, consuming carbohydrates, and noting the weather in an attempt to avoid rain (which I did, save for some sprinkles in the last two miles).

Side note: why do none of the weather sites agree with each other? There was a swing of 10 degrees and 15 mph wind speed between Accuweather.com and Weather.com. It’s a shame that the artist Henry Darger isn’t still alive. I’m sure the moral outrage at his local weatherman’s inability to accurately forecast the weather, which he cataloged daily in his Book of Weather Reports, would be felt and expressed even more keenly today in light of the technology at meteorologists’ fingertups nearly 40 years on.

Anyway, back to my swan song long run. I decided to make it special: a progressive run with some one mile intervals at or below marathon pace. I did a few 1-2 mile surges at marathon pace, with one mile 8:20ish pace “rest miles” inbetween. And since I’m an overachiever, I did the last mile at 20 seconds faster than marathon pace (7:28). All of this was physically encouraging to me; I had no problem with the paces and still felt good at the end of the run.

But I suspect the run had the most value in the mental realm. I ran 22 miles in just over 3:07. The miles flew by. No tedium, no having to play mental games with myself, no urges to stop. There’s also the issue of time: A rule of thumb says that if you can run 22 miles in your goal marathon time, you’re probably in very good shape to achieve it. I ran mine in around 20 minutes faster than my goal time, so I’m hoping this means I’m in great shape to achieve it.

Taper starts tomorrow. If I’m not ready for April 6 as of today, then I’ll never be.

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 6.1 miles recovery pace (AM), 3.6 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Tuesday: 11.8 with 4 x 1200 at 5K race pace; no rabies shot this week — next week is the last one
  • Wednesday: took the day off owing to an inflamed (and complaining) right tendon
  • Thursday: 15 mile long run (progressive pace) (AM); 4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Friday: 8.2 miles easy pace (AM)
  • Saturday: Disaster run of 2.5 miles due to severe glycogen shortage; 2+ hour nap in the afternoon
  • Sunday: 22 mile long run (progressive pace) with 5 miles at marathon pace

Total mileage: 73.2 miles

Paces this week:

  • Low carb: 10:30 – 14:00 (!)
  • Recovery: 9:35 – 11:00
  • Speed: Intervals at 6:45 pace
  • Long: 7:58 – 9:38
  • Marathon pace: 7:28 – 7:48

This week’s quote:

“There’s no such thing as a bad carbohydrate.“

— Don Kardong

Coming up in training week sixteen: It’s not Easy Street yet. I have a 10 mile easy run on Tuesday with strides, a 14 mile midweek long run, a 10 mile tempo run on Friday and a 17 miler on Sunday. With the exception of tomorrow, I only need to run once per day this week. What a luxury!

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Training week in review: 14 of 18

Posted on March 9, 2008 by threlkeld

This week’s training theme:

Trust your training.

I’ve seen the three words that make up this week’s training theme before. In books, in interviews and on message boards. Trust your training. It’s often used in the context of tapering, as advice to take tapering seriously, not go out and do a bunch of aggressive training runs two or three weeks before your marathon to get that 1-2% edge. You’re more apt to tire yourself and leave your marathon out on the training runs. Trust your training.

Like last week, I had certain priority runs around which I organized all other miles. They were, in descending order of importance: a 15K race, a 20 miler and a speed interval session.

On Monday I was still pretty worn out from last Sunday’s 25K race/training run. I also had a nagging soreness in my lower right leg’s achilles tendon — must have been the hills in Connecticut. That soreness persisted into Tuesday morning, just in time for my speed session. Since I had the fourth of my five rabies shots scheduled later on Tuesday morning — after which I knew I’d feel like, well, like I had rabies — I got up at an ungodly hour to run the 10 miles with the speed session sandwiched in the middle.

It was — of course! — incredibly windy. And I was — still! — very tired. So I did just three intervals on the Bronxville track. In a respectable time, all things considered. I learned that you need to get to the track and done with your work before 8:30, because that’s the moment the school doors fly open and 200 children come pouring onto the track. Kids today!

Wednesday was a nothing day — one little four miler so I could get ready for…

Thursday’s scheduled torture session: a 20 mile long run, which I again got up very early to do. My leg was still hurting and the first seven or so miles were a real run down memory lane from last year, during which I suffered with pretty much constant shin splints during marathon training. It went away and I was thankful for my new status as someone who runs without pain most of the time.

Friday and Saturday were easy days so I could save my energy for today’s race.

And Bob’s your uncle.

So why is this week’s training theme “trust your training”? Because this is the mantra I will soon need to spend weeks repeating to myself during my pre-race taper, when I will be tempted to go do some harder running. It’s also a reminder that I can trust my training; my recent races bear that out.

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 5 miles recovery pace (AM), 5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Tuesday: 9.9 with 3 x 1200 at 5K race pace; felt like I’d been hit by a truck post-rabies shot in the afternoon
  • Wednesday: 4 miles recovery pace
  • Thursday: 20 mile long run (steady) pace
  • Friday: 4.6 miles recovery pace (AM), 5.4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Saturday: 7 miles recovery pace
  • Sunday: 9.5 mile race (15K)

Total mileage: 70.4 miles

Paces this week:

  • Recovery: 10:05 – 10:25
  • Speed: Intervals at 6:45 pace
  • Long: 8:25
  • Race: 7:07

This week’s quote:

“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.“

— Steve Prefontaine

Coming up in training week fifteen: Another peak week of 91 miles, including more speedwork and 22 miles in Central Park. And it’s the storm before the calm: my taper starts after this week.

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Race Report: NYRR Colon Cancer Challenge 15K

Posted on March 9, 2008 by threlkeld

This morning we ran the Colon Cancer Challenge 15K in Central Park, yet another of the approximately 50 races that New York Road Runners is hosting this year. I will again extoll the virtues of racing in the park: challenging course, good competition, excellent race management and — on Sundays at least — free parking nearby.

I’m over the moon about this race because it’s the last race before the marathon in a month. The last chance to evaluate my fitness in order to pick a goal time and pacing strategy for The Big One. The reason I’m so happy is that I exceeded my expectations for today.

I wanted to see if I could again (after last weekend’s race) run a pace equivalent to a 3:24 marathon. That alone is a challenge for me since it’s only in the past month or so that I’ve been training for that faster pace (down from 3:30 paces). Today there were 20 mph winds, and I was actually excited about that. Yes, I must hate myself. I was happy that it was going to be ridiculously windy because it was another chance to test my mettle in less-than-ideal race conditions.

My goal was to sustain an average 7:14 pace, the 15K performance equivalent of the 3:24 marathon. Instead, I managed a 7:07 pace. The race results say 7:16 (my finishing time was 1:07:35), but I was actually running faster than that because, due to the crowd, I couldn’t hit all the tangents and ended up running 9.49 miles rather than 9.3.

But who cares?! I ran 7:07 for over 9 miles and lived to tell the tale. I was trying for a 1:07:22 or under time. What I got was close enough for jazz and government work. One interesting aspect of the race is that I also ran a dead even set of 5Ks: three each at exactly 22:11. This tells me that I am able to balance banking time on the downhills and taking it easy on the uphills in a consistent way.

In terms of race standings…these days I rely on people not showing up to races in order to “do well” from a competitive standpoint. (I hope to change that in the next year.) Had we turned the clock back a year to 2007 last night rather than forward an hour, I would have come in second in my age group. This year, the faster fortysomething ladies came out and I ended up in ninth place. But that’s a number that nevertheless delights me.

Jonathan, continuing his streak, took third in his age group (he would have won his age group by five minutes last year) for a lovely plastic award.

Normally I would be nervous about looking at two race results for shorter races (15K and 25K) and basing a marathon pacing plan on those. But I’ve done my homework on the endurance end of things, so I’m feeling very confident about going for a 3:24ish time in April. I also got some great data today regarding pacing and heart rate changes along different parts of the course. I’ve got a month to construct a pacing strategy based on all of this. And that’s a lot more fun than doing taxes.

Filed under: racing, training | 2 Comments »

"What do you think about on those long runs?"

Posted on March 8, 2008 by threlkeld

This was a question a colleague asked me a few months ago. I’d let her know that I’d be in late because I had to run 20 miles on a weekday morning. Like most non-runners, she found this unfathomable. After asking how long it took me, she asked what no one ever has: “What do you think about on those long runs?”

She does a lot of yoga and meditation, so was curious to know if I meditated. That was a tough one to answer. I think I replied that if by meditating she meant “being in the present and clearing one’s mind” that in fact running a race was more meditative than running a training run was.

I did a 20 miler yesterday morning. As I ran along, I kept track of some of the things I thought about. Here they are, unexpurgated, unadulterated and uncensored.

(Maybe some runners out there think deep thoughts. As you can see, I’m not one of them.)

+ + + + +

Warmer today. I wonder if that bottle I hid up by Hartsdale station is still frozen.

+ + + + +

Snippet of a song by Spoon: “Finer Feelings”

+ + + + +

“It is to laugh.” Who said that? Shakespeare? Or Bugs Bunny? Bugs Bunny quoting Shakespeare, maybe.

+ + + + +

Snippet of a Marshall Crenshaw song: “The Distance Between”

+ + + + +

Pothole. Go left.

+ + + + +

Gloves. They’re in a stump up ahead. Where’s the stump? There’s the stump.

+ + + + +

Snippet of a song by The Beautiful Girls: “I Thought About You”

+ + + + +

These signs for the crosswalk lights are all screwed up. The one that says “To cross Harney Road” is pointing toward the parkway. And vice versa. I wonder how many people push the wrong button every day, and stand here for five minutes like a douchebag.

+ + + + +

What is that? It’s a ball. A Sesame Street ball. Is that Grover or the Cookie Monster? Cookie Monster. No, wait. Too skinny. Grover.

+ + + + +

I’ll stop now. Imagine this, though. For three hours.

Filed under: everyday life, humor, training | 2 Comments »

Training week in review: 13 of 18

Posted on March 4, 2008 by threlkeld

This week’s training theme:

If you feel like pushing the pace a little in a training run, go for it. The worst that can happen is you’ll have to slow down. But it you can handle it, you’ll get a real shot of confidence.

This past week was another case of deciding that some recovery was in order. After three weeks of banging away at between 85 and 95 miles, all that stress caught up with me. I was very tired on Monday, and was worn down mentally from needing to do so much running inside due to the weather, snow and ice.

Tuesday afternoon was the last straw. I experienced some intense side effects from my third rabies shot: a malaise that hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks about three hours after I got the shot. Unfortunately, at the time I was attempting to embark on my second speedwork session — this time inside on the treadmill — and finding that I could barely run a 12 minute mile.

Oh, our ancient washing machine also died on Tuesday afternoon. That also contributed to my foul mood and overall sense of doom.

So, after feeling really frustrated and despondent for awhile, I got over it and recast the week’s schedule to try to salvage things. I split a longer easy run into two recovery runs, leaving me with just two hard days: Wednesday and Sunday. All the rest were double recovery session days, with 60% of my mileage at dead easy pace.

One thing I couldn’t change was the weather (much as I wish I could) and its effects on the running path and roads. So, with the exception of two runs, everything was inside again this week. But today, at last, we had a hint of spring, with temperatures in the 50s. Our cat was also beset by spring fever this morning, always a sure sign that the season is turning.

This week’s centerpiece run was my last big marathon pace run. I chose to again use a race environment for support. This time around, it was the 25K (15.6 mile) Boston Buildup in Norwalk, CT. The race start was a local elementary school, where runners kept warm in the gym.

What an interesting race! It’s part of a series of races of gradually increasing length, presumably designed for people who are training for the Boston Marathon to use as training runs or tuneup races. As people began trickling into the gym, it was clear that this was a serious, accomplished crowd. It was a small race of around 200 people, and there were some very good runners there.

One side note: This is the first race I’ve run in where they actually banned headphones. I didn’t care because I never race with them (and I rarely run with them outside anymore), and no one else seemed to either. It was necessary for this race, as the roads were open.

The race was on a tough, tough course. The first 8.5 miles were uphill, with an elevation gain of around 500 feet. We were also running into a 15 mph headwind much of the time. Then, at 8.5 miles, the course headed downhill. There were still a few little, yet challenging uphill bumps, but overall it was a fast cruise downhill, and I was running a good 20-30 seconds per mile faster in the second half.

I wasn’t racing, but I had decided ahead of time to go for broke and target a pace of 7:48 minutes per mile, which is a 3:24 marathon pace. For most of the past few months I’ve been training at paces appropriate for a 3:30 race. It’s only in the last week or two that I’ve picked things up; I’m doubtful I’ll run 3:24 in April, but I’ll certainly be trying for something well under 3:30.

It was a fantastic training run. People were very spread out, but close enough that I kept a few in sight and they pulled me along. And I passed a few people over the course of the run. I was working hard, but I felt comfortable and in control of things. I could have run it faster. The miles flew by and at the finish I still felt pretty fresh, like I could have kept going. The picture above shows me just a few seconds before crossing the finish line. See how fresh I look?

The best part? I came in at 2:01:08 — a 7:48 pace, right on the nose.

Post-race, the gym resembled a war or disaster triage area. About a dozen student massage therapists had turned up to give free massages, and they had their tables all set up. When I walked in, I saw all these prone runners getting massages. It was quite impressive and distracted me from my mission of determining which was the best variety of bagel offered. There were no trophies, but Jonathan got a very nice, long-sleeve custom “Boston Building” tech tee (from Asics, the race sponsor) for coming in first in his age group. They were also giving out free copies of the book Breakthrough Running. Smart schwag!

The race organization was a little rough around the edges, with too few people running things, but it was a challenging course and a good crowd to run with. The people running the race obviously cared about putting on a good event, despite the limitations. I’ll definitely want to do that one (and perhaps others in the series) next year.*

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 4 miles recovery pace (AM), 6 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Tuesday: Disaster strikes after my rabies jab: 3 miles at enfeebled pace
  • Wednesday: 5 miles recovery pace (AM), 5.5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Thursday: 15 mile long run (steady) pace (PM), 4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Friday: 5 miles recovery pace (AM), 6 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Saturday: 4.6 miles recovery pace (AM), 3.4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Sunday: 16 miles at marathon pace

Total mileage: 73.5 miles

Paces this week:

  • Enfeebled: 12:00+
  • Recovery: 9:50 – 11:30
  • Long: 8:44
  • Marathon: 7:48

This week’s quote:

“Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run.“

— Jumbo Elliott

Coming up in training week fourteen: Another attempt at speedwork, a weekday 20 miler, and my last tuneup race before the big race in April. And my penultimate rabies shot. And a new washing machine. A very, very fast washing machine.

*They had salt bagels, too, which no one ever has. These are the best bagels to eat after a long race, when all the salt in your body has been sweated out of you, settling as a fine powder on your skin.

Filed under: racing, training | 2 Comments »

Training week in review: 12 of 18

Posted on February 26, 2008 by threlkeld

This week’s training theme:

Listening to your body is more important than slavishly holding to a generic schedule.

With the exception of the speed intervals on Tuesday — a first! — there was no one run during this week that was anything new or different than I’d done many times before. But, collectively, and perhaps because of the speed session, week twelve was quite tiring. Especially coming off of week eleven, which was also challenging.

The speed session was the highlight of the week. I did it just two days after the big 25 miler in Central Park. It consisted of a six mile warmup run, which took me to the Bronxville High School track. This is a brand new track, and Bronxville has one of the highest per student spending budgets in the country. So it’s a nice track.

The speed session consisted of 5 x 600 meters at 5K pace. Since I’m training at paces for a 3:24 marathon at this point, that equated to covering 600m in 2:30. While that’s not going to break any records, for me it was very fast. As usual, conditions were less than optimal, with a 15 mph wind from the south. Still, I kept to (in fact exceeded) the pace despite the brisk wind. And I suppose it’s normal to be breathing like a panicky water buffalo, running at the nose and heaving at the end of each interval. No, it wasn’t that bad. But it definitely wore me out and I was glad when the last repeat was over.

And yet, oddly disappointed. There’s something gratifying about running ridiculously fast around a track. I can’t fathom actually racing other people on a track. It seems so much more intimate and unforgiving an environment as compared to the open road. But I can handle the heavy breathing on a solo basis at least.

The training schedule called for a long run the day after the speed session. After all these months, I have a good sense of what’s going to be too much. I was completely knackered the morning after, so made it a recovery day and tackled the long run/recovery run combo a day later.

I did a single recovery run on Friday, which seemed like a real luxury given all the doubles I’m doing. Then a 10 mile easy run on Saturday, which went splendidly; my legs were very fresh and I was going at quite a clip. Which, of course, drained me for Sunday’s long run, an 18+ series of loops through Scarsdale and White Plains, since the running path was (and is still) covered in ice and snow from Friday’s storm.

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 6 miles recovery pace (AM), 3 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Tuesday: 9.9 mile easy pace, including 5 x 600 repeats
  • Wednesday: 6.3 miles recovery pace (AM), 3.5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Thursday: 14.9 mile long run (steady) pace (PM), 4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Friday: 6.3 miles recovery pace
  • Saturday: 10 miles easy pace
  • Sunday: 18.6 mile long run (steady pace)

Total mileage: 82.5 miles

Paces this week:

  • Speed intervals: 2:25 – 2:29 (600m)
  • Recovery: 10:00 – 10:30
  • Easy: 8:15 – 9:00
  • Long: 8:25 – 9:30

All in all, a tough week. I’m going to consider it a lesson in being flexible: moving days around to allow for more recovery, reducing mileage if necessary, running slower if I’m still tired from the previous day, etc. The goal is to get to the actual race healthy and ready mentally and physically. If I need to adjust things here and there to accomplish that, so be it.

This week’s quote:

“It is true that speed kills. In distance running it kills anyone who doesn’t have it.“

–Brooks Johnston

Coming up in training week thirteen: The suffering continues, with speedwork, long runs, easy runs and on Sunday a 25K race in Connecticut, which I’ll use as a 15 mile marathon pace training run.

But, the race is in sight — it’s only six weeks away. I’ve only got three more weeks of real training, and then I’m into my taper. What on Earth will I do with all that free time?

Filed under: training | 1 Comment »

So tired. So very tired.

Posted on February 18, 2008 by threlkeld

It’s official. Running over 90 miles will make a person very, very tired. I ran well enough this morning (and need to do another in an hour), which is bizarre. No leg pain or fatigue whatsoever.

But I do feel like slightly fluish and crapola. I wonder if that’s from all the miles.

Or maybe it’s the martini and three glasses of wine I had last night.

Hmm.

Filed under: physiology, training | 1 Comment »

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